White House demonstrators protest Obamacare contraception coverage

Women Speak For Themselves held a demonstration in Washington D.C. against the government's stance on women's health care. August 1, 2013

Women Speak For Themselves held a demonstration in Washington D.C. against the government's stance on women's health care. August 1, 2013

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Women Speak For Themselves held a demonstration in Washington D.C. against the government's stance on women's health care. August 1, 2013

Women Speak For Themselves held a demonstration in Washington D.C. against the government's stance on women's health care. August 1, 2013

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Organizer Helen Alvaré is interviewed before the Women Speak For Themselves demonstration in Washington D.C. August 1, 2013

Organizer Helen Alvaré is interviewed before the Women Speak For Themselves demonstration in Washington D.C. August 1, 2013

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Women Speak For Themselves held a demonstration in Washington D.C. against the government's stance on women's health care. August 1, 2013

Women Speak For Themselves held a demonstration in Washington D.C. against the government's stance on women's health care. August 1, 2013

Image 5 of 6

Women Speak For Themselves held a demonstration in Washington D.C. against the government's stance on women's health care. August 1, 2013

Women Speak For Themselves held a demonstration in Washington D.C. against the government's stance on women's health care. August 1, 2013

Image 6 of 6

Women Speak For Themselves held a demonstration in Washington D.C. against the government's stance on women's health care. August 1, 2013

Women Speak For Themselves held a demonstration in Washington D.C. against the government's stance on women's health care. August 1, 2013

White House demonstrators protest Obamacare contraception coverage

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The liberal narrative about a Republican “War on Women” is a well known, but the Women Speak For Themselves (WSFT) organization — an anti-abortion group — wants to tell the other side of the story.

WSFT was organized in February 2012 in response to the Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate that required religious institutions to provide coverage for contraceptives. Some government officials have made sweeping assessments about the health care of women, but WSFT believes that the government cannot speak for all women across the nation.

The HHS mandate was originally planned to take effect on August 1, 2013, but was postponed until January 1, 2014.

On Thursday, the organization held a demonstration in Lafayette Park across from the White House to bring awareness to their standpoint.

Communication Director Meg McDonnell said the goals of this grassroots campaign are to protect the rights of religious institutions and to show that nobody speaks for all women.

WSFT works mostly at a local level, but the message is spread nationally through social media and other online avenues.

“The reality is that women have different beliefs about contraception, but if one person stands up, more will. There is strength in numbers,” said McDonnell.

Some of the individuals in the organization support the Affordable Care Act, but they do not agree with the HHS mandate that would force religious companies to provide contraception.

Helen Avare, the organizer of the demonstration, said there are multiple reasons why they are members of WSFT:

“Some are simply tired of some female politicians’ and the White House’s claims to speak for all women. And fed up with their vision of women’s freedom, too, which amounts to freedom from children, and not much else. Some are incredulous that the government is trampling religious freedom in the name of something as easily available as contraception. Some are angry that drugs that can destroy embryos are being lumped together with “contraception.” And some will testify to the medical and other disadvantages of some forms of contraception. Some are sick of the government believing that it can put out a so-called ‘expert report” for its position, which is authored by the government’s hand-selected friends from Planned Parenthood. Some are here for all of the above reasons.”

More than 40,000 women have singed WSFT’s letter to President Obama, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and members of the Congress to prove that one perspective does not encompass all women.

The letter stated that most of the individuals come from a Catholic background, but have a wide range of political views. According to the WSFT letter, government involvement in women’s health can actually be harmful:

“Those currently invoking ‘women’s health’ in an attempt to shout down anyone who disagrees with forcing religious institutions or individuals to violate deeply held beliefs are more than a little mistaken, and more than a little dishonest. Even setting aside their simplistic equation of ‘costless’ birth control with ‘equality,’ note that they have never responded to the large body of scholarly research indicating that many forms of contraception have serious side effects, or that some forms act at some times to destroy embryos, or that government contraceptive programs inevitably change the sex, dating and marriage markets in ways that lead to more empty sex, more non-marital births and more abortions. It is women who suffer disproportionately when these things happen.”